Starting Over
by Courtney JoAnne
Summary: Lithuania goes to try and make peace with Russia, but what he finds is a completely different man than he knew.


It was depressing to see.

Lithuania had seen him do this before, but he hadn't cared then. He thought he had deserved it. Now, though, it was different.

He had come to Ivan's house to try and mend their relationship. He had seen the man change over the years. He knew he wasn't the same, but he had been scared to come here anyway. Now, he found himself standing in the snow, watching Ivan. He was no longer scared. He was depressed.

Ivan was standing in the fields around his house, arms spread out like he was asking for a hug and crying.

He had been driving down the one lone road to the Russian's house when he saw him, and he almost missed him. He had driven passed him, and it was only when he saw the lone figure in his rear view mirror did he stop and turn around. He figured it could only be one person.

And that was how he ended up out in the snow, with nothing but a thin jacket, watching the unassuming Russian in the snow, lips blue, eyes crying.

He watched a storm coming closer. Ivan hadn't moved an inch during the hours he watched him, and he seemed to show no sign of moving for the raging snow. Toris would have thought he was dead if he hadn't heard strangled sobs from time to time.

And even though he felt horrible, seeing his former captor standing there so miserable, he didn't know what to do. He felt scared, as if he were to disturb him, like so many years ago, he would be punished.

Sitting on top of his car, Toris soon saw the source of the storm.

A man in full white walked silently. As his scarf bellowed out around him, the wind screamed and snow flew angrily. Lithuania saw Ivan flinch. He couldn't tell if it was from either fear or a twisted joy born from loneliness.

Toris watched as the white man walked forward and embraced the shaking Russian, whose shaking only increased in the freezing cold. Lithuania could even feel the cold of the storm creeping towards him, but he knew that just like Ivan, he couldn't leave. Watching, he knew Ivan must have hated the hold, because he hated the cold. And he was clinging desperately back.

Toris's oh-so human heart cried out, and he wanted to go hug Ivan himself, but something wouldn't let him. It wouldn't let him, not until the he saw the General leaning down to trap the Russian in the stinging kiss of a snowy death. It was only then when the Lithuanian sprung forward, finding that now he couldn't stop as he pushed his way clumsily through the building snow.

Seeing Ivan painfully lonely was fine – He could stand seeing him in his old circumstance. Seeing Ivan so desperate was okay – It was sinfully satisfying to see him like he had been. It tore his simple heart apart, but he couldn't _not_ watch. He couldn't _do_ anything about these things.

He would not lose him though.

Ivan had changed. Ivan wasn't that horrible man anymore. Ivan didn't hurt anyone anymore. He was just lonely.

"Ivan!" Toris threw himself against the rock solid figure of the Russian. He wrapped his arms around him as far as he could and nuzzled against his back, not letting go despite the furious storm that made it so difficult to get to the Russian as it bit angrily at his uncovered skin.

"Ivan!"

Ivan felt a jolt of warmth through him and he tore himself away from the bitter man of cold.

Where….?

Hearing his name again, he turned around to see an ill prepared young brunet clinging to him and shivering.

"Toris?" Two green eyes looked up to meet him and Ivan almost cried with shock and joy. Turning his back to General Winter, he unbuttoned his thick jacket, pulling Toris into it and against him so they could both share the warmth.

"Don't go Ivan." Toris pressed himself against Ivan's chest, crying.

They stood there for a long time, keeping each other warm and comforted during the General's rage. They stood for as long as the snow bit and tried to tear them apart, and it was some time before the air around them was calm enough for either of them to hear each other's comforting murmurs, much less move.

When the air was left in a defining silent, so were their tongues left leaden in their mouths, and it took a long time for either of them to say or do anything. They simply stood in each other's arms contently. Eventually, it was Ivan who broke the spell, shaking the snow from them and looking down at smaller man's head as his voice finally reached out to him.

"Toris?"

Two eyes looked up to him from where their owner was nuzzled against his chest.

"Yes?" The voice was so simple and trusting. It was what he had wanted all those years ago when all he received was fear.

"W-Why did you come back?" His voice was innocent and nervous, not knowing what was happening. He had never seen this side of Lithuania, one that was trusting and not scared to be around him. This made Lithuania smile.

"I wanted…" He huddled against the other, finally letting the last of the bitterness go. "I wanted to start over."

"Start over?" The confusion in the other's eyes was now even more prominent.

"From before. Let's start over, be friends." His words were simple and plain – just like the Lithuanian, Ivan noted. They were not flourished and hidden like what others said. It made his words less memorable, but easier to understand. It made him less memorable, but easier to connect to.

"B-Before? F-Friends?" the Russian's eyes were infused with happiness at the idea, but he couldn't comprehend why the other would want to. "Liet, you don't have…. I mean, you have every right to…"

"Everyone should learn how to forgive." Ivan was interrupted by these words, and after a slight pause, he smiled, scooping up Toris and spinning him around, beaming like the sun.

"Da! Let's start over!" He stopped, holding the Lithuanian cradled in his arms as he slowly began to make his way through the freshly fallen snow. Setting Toris down in front of his car, he took a step back.

Lithuania watched him curiously, wanting to get in his car and go so they could get somewhere warm and begin to talk. What Ivan did next made him smile, though.

"Hi my name is Ivan Braginski. My favorite food is piershigi. Someone I used to know used to make it very well. And I like vodka. It's my fuel, you see." The other talked like they never met before, and it made Toris happy. Maybe he _could_ forget it all. "Anyway, could I maybe get a ride to my house? It's really cold out and I don't like the cold." Ivan continued with a consistently content smile.

"Ah…" Toris laughed lightly. "My name is Toris Laurenitus, nice to meet you. Yah, sure, get in." He walked over to the driver's side, pulling the door open and getting in, glad he had left it running as now they wouldn't have to wait for it to warm up.

As Ivan got in, Toris said, "You know, I make piershigi well, too."


End file.
